Squirrelhunter91

i just read an article on bowhunting squirrels and shooting them out of trees, the guy who wrote the article reccommended using Flu Flu fletching and a blunt tip. he also said that as a blunt tip, he prefers to place a small rifle round over the end of his arrow and use that so he doesnt penetrate the animal. this article is in the June 2004, Vol 53, No 3, Bowhunting World magazine. Long title. I wonder how these "Blunt" tips fly opposed to broadheads.[&:]

Danny45

The guy was right. Flu Flu fletching prevents the arrow from traveling very far in case of a miss. If you take and fletch feathers backwards, they work the same way. Blunt tips will work very well for this type of hunting, as well as rabbit hunting. One other thing the don't penetrate, is the tree! Real bummer when your arrow is stuck in the side of a limb 20 feet up a tree, and no way to go get it. LOL They fly similar to field points. But if you want to be accurate, practice and you may have to change your sights. Especially if the blunts are heavier than your regular field points or broadheads. They even make a blunt tip that has four little wire arms that stick out. This prevents the arrow from snaking under the grass and makes them easier to retrieve. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of those darn things.

Klondike

[>:]but if it doesnt penetrate, is the chance of killing the animal the same??

wihunter402

Danny,
You are thinking of the Judo points. They do work nicely for this type of hunting.

Squirrelhunter91

well the article also said that the power of the arrow and tip can also be demonstrated by someone poking you in the ribs real hard. it is a blunt force...

Danny45

wihunter40, THANK YOU!!!! Never could remember those things! They used to have some of those wire things that were spring loaded that you put behind your broadheads. They gripped the shaft as they slid up which prevented complete passthroughs on turkeys.

klondike, they work great. They hit with a ton of force and really pack a whollop. You broadside or head shoot a squirrel or rabbit and they won't know what hit them. Take a handgun casing and slide it over your shaft or field point, then shoot your target. You'll see how hard they hit.

Squirrelhunter91

i think i am gonna try this tomorrow morning, but on chipmunks....lol

nagalfar

RUN ALVIN RUN!

AK

My preference is to use normal hunting fletching for squirrels. Flu-flu's are helpful for preventing arrow loss on arial shots, but I've had many squirrles dodge their noisy flight. I usually carry a mix of broadheads and blunts in my squirrel quiver. Broadhead hits ensure a more likely kill than blunt blows, so I try to use them when I put a stalk on squirrles rifling through leaves on the ground. Old or cheap broadheads (such as MA-3's) are ideal for squirrels. So are field points "if" a steel washer or Adder point is placed behind them. Field points alone tend to pass through and often don't cause enough immediate trauma to anchor them. The obvious drawback to broadheads is that they stick in trees, and so this is where the blunts are handy.

I prefer solid steel blunts, Ace Hex blunts, or brass cartridge casings over Judo points and rubber blunts. Judos tend to stick in trees, and I've lost too many squirrels to rubber blunts (even from fast compound bows) to consider them worthy. There are no guarantees of a kill with metal blunts, but the certaintly level increases when a squirrel gets sandwiched between a tree and a speeding blunt, versus getting hit and knocked off the side of a tree.

For the brass cartridge blunts, I prefer to use 30-30 brass. When the neck is cut off with a Dremel tool, the case weighs 120 grns. About 5 grains of epoxy are used to secure them on the shaft, so their weight matches that of normal field points. You can make them even more effective by cutting a 3/8" slot longitudinally in them and gluing in a short peice of hacksaw blade. What you end up with is a blunt that also opens a wound channel...perhaps the perfect squirrel head.